Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Don't show me this message again

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV565

Introduction

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach in 1685 and died in Leipzig in 1750. He was the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, a high-ranking town violinist and trumpeter who directed the musicians in Eisenach. Johann Sebastian’s mother, Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt, was also from a musical family, and his uncles were all professional musicians with positions as church organists, court musicians or composers in and around Saxony. His father taught him to play the harpsichord, but it was his uncle, Johann Christoph, who introduced him to the organ. And it is the Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ that has emerged as one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most played and loved works, emphasizing the composer’s understanding not only for strict counterpoint, but also for the virtuosic, improvisatory elements of the toccata style.

The strict counterpoint of a fugue is often regarded as the most complex part of the toccata-fugue form, but the dramatic opening of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor is such that one feels an enormous sense of arrival, perhaps even release, when the Toccata finally gives way to the Fugue. The opening is one of the most recognizable motifs in the classical music repertoire: three notes in octaves (A-G-A) cascade downwards, arriving finally on a low sustained pedal D from which emerges a diminished C# chord creating such dissonance (for the time) that seems to resolve only just before becoming questionable. Such timing, this has to be one of the most spectacular openings in the organ repertoire. As mentioned, the arrival of the fugue gives an enormous sense of release as gently flowing sixteenth notes drift calmly by, before casually moving aside to accommodate the second sub-dominant voice. Sublime musical logic: it is no wonder Johann Sebastian Bach is considered one of the greatest of all baroque composers.

'Could hardly be more exhilarating or enterprising … a memorable as well as enticing disc' (Gramophone)'Lane commands the golden tone and effortless, spirited virtuosity needed to make these transcriptions come alive, and makes them sound easy to boot. ...» More

'Stupendous organ sound … one of the three Bach CDs I will turn to over and over again for sheer enjoyment' (Gramophone)'If you only have one disc of organ music in your collection this must be it' (The Good CD Guide)» More

'Stupendous organ sound … one of the three Bach CDs I will turn to over and over again for sheer enjoyment' (Gramophone)'If you only have one disc of organ music in your collection this must be it' (The Good CD Guide)» More

Hyperion’s Bach piano transcription series has reached volume 7 with the complete transcriptions by Max Reger. Reger was described by his contemporaries as ‘the modern-day Bach’. His skills as a pianist were matched by his abilities as an organist ...» More

A master pianist demonstrates his manifold talents in this delicious selection of French music. Works by Poulenc, Fauré, Debussy and Ravel rub shoulders with lesser-known gems by their contemporaries.» More

'Let me say without hesitation that Herrick’s performances are models of clarity, accuracy, precision and musicality … this is a complete Bach th ...'Herrick is one of the few organists who does justice to these difficult, elusive pieces … What a singular joy to hear the organ played with such ...» More

We start, in a characteristically Houghian twist, with a figure who was in fact Swiss-born and not really a composer at all: the legendary pianist Alfred Cortot. His take on one of the most famous works in the classical canon—whether or not by Bach, and scholars are still scrapping about that—is a refreshing essay in the simplest means to create the maximum impact. In place of the mighty and freely pianistic transcriptions of the D minor Toccata and Fugue by Busoni, Tausig, Grainger and Friedman, to name just the obvious candidates, here is a study in Gallic refinement, which is not to say it is lightweight in any sense: it maintains the epic quality of the original to perfection. Perhaps it is precisely because Cortot wasn’t a composer or even a composer–pianist that he gets to the heart of the matter so compellingly. To this, Stephen Hough has added his own subtle changes and clarifications, bringing the work ineluctably into the twenty-first century.